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Global issues

Can Thorium Nuclear Power Make a Comeback?

June 9, 2023

Radiation can harm our health, damaging cells and organisms. That's why people worry about nuclear waste. Waste from nuclear power stations can emit radiation for hundreds of thousands of years.

Strahlenwarnzeichen
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Büttner

But what if thorium were used instead of uranium?

 

Also on Tomorrow Today

 

Image: picture-alliance/dpa

France's first nuclear waste repository

Nuclear power provides 75 percent of France's electricity. In the north, the first repository for highly radioactive and long-lived waste is being planned. But not everybody's happy about it.

 

 

 

Image: Deutsches Röntgen-Museum

The X-ray revolution

Discovered in 1895, X-rays are electromagnetic waves produced with the aid of negatively charged particles called electrons, which are accelerated until they smash into an obstacle - creating energy. And they're still being used to shape the future.

 

 

 

Image: picture-alliance/dpa/GSI Helmholtzzentrum

Small worlds in big focus

Particle accelerators see electrons reach almost light speed, producing up to 70,000 X-ray flashes per second. Researchers across the world are using this to develop new processes and products based on images of nanostructures.

 

 

Image: ESA/ATG MEDIALAB/dpa/picture alliance

Just ask!

Every second, the sun converts four million tons of matter into energy. No big deal for our home star. But it also loses mass via the so-called solar wind.

 

 

 

 

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